'U-u-uncle, what are you going to do with me? I know you're my uncle, but this is beyond reason.'
'Shut up!'
'I swear, I don't remember doing what you're talking about.'
'Shut up!'
'Who told you such a thing?'
'Are you going to be quiet or not?'
'Uncle… you are my uncle, aren't you? If there was such a rumor going around, couldn't you have asked me about it?'
'Never mind the cowardly excuses.'
'But for the head of a large clan to act on rumors without investigating them…'
Needless to say, this whining was repugnant to Koroku. He raised the gun and rested it in the crook of his elbow.
'You scum. You're just the living target I need to try out this new weapon that Kuniyoshi's just made for me. You two, take him over to the fence and tie him to a tree.'
Shinshichi and Takumi gave Tenzo a shove and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. They marched him all the way to the far end of the garden, which was far enough away that a poor archer would not be able to shoot an arrow the entire distance.
'Uncle! I have something to say. Hear me out, just once!' Tenzo yelled. His voice, and the despair in it, were plain for all to hear. Koroku ignored him. Oinosuke had brought a fuse. Koroku took it and, after loading a ball into the musket, took aim at his frantically screaming nephew.
'I did wrong! I confess! Please hear me out!'
As unimpressed as their lord, the men stood silently, braced themselves, and watched. After several minutes, Tenzo fell silent. His head hung down. Perhaps he was contemplating death. Or maybe he was a broken man.
'It's no good!' Koroku murmured. He took his eyes from the target. 'Even when I pull the trigger, the ball does not come out. Oinosuke, run over to the smithy and get Kuniyoshi.'
When the smith came, Koroku held out the gun to him, saying, 'I tried to fire just now, but it doesn't work. Fix it.'
Kuniyoshi examined the musket. 'It cannot be repaired easily, my lord,' he said.
'How long will it take?'
'Maybe I can do it by this evening.'
'Can't you do it sooner than that? The living target I'm going to try it out on is waiting.'
Only then did the blacksmith realize that Tenzo was meant to be the target. 'Your… your nephew?' he stammered.
Koroku ignored the remark. 'You're a gunsmith now. It would be good if you your energy into making a gun. If you could finish it even one day earlier than planned, that would be good. Tenzo's an evil man, but he is a relative, and instead of dying a dog’s death, he'll have made a contribution if he's put to some use in trying out a gun. Now on with your job.'
'Yes, my lord.'
'What are you waiting for?' Koroku's eyes were like signal fires. Even without looking up, Kuniyoshi felt their heat. He took the gun and scurried off to the smithy.
'Takumi, give some water to our living target,' Koroku ordered. 'Have at least three men stand guard over him until the gun is repaired.' Then he went back to the main house to have breakfast.
Takumi, Oinosuke, and Shinshichi also left the garden. Nagai Hannojo was to return to his own home that day, and he soon announced his departure. At about the same time, Matsubara Takumi left on an errand, so only Inada Oinosuke and Aoyama Shinshich remained in the residence on the hill.
The sun climbed higher. It got hotter. The cicadas droned, and the only living creatures moving in the broiling heat were ants crawling over the baked paving stones in the garden. The furious sound of hammering erupted spasmodically from the smithy. How must it have sounded to Tenzo's ears?
'Isn't the gun ready yet?' Each time the stern voice came from Koroku's room, Aoyama Shinshichi ran to the smithy through the scorching heat. He would come back to the veranda each time, saying, 'It'll take a little longer,' and then report on how the work was progressing.
Koroku napped fitfully, his arms and legs outstretched. Shinshichi, too, tired from the previous day's excitement, finally dozed off.
They were roused by the voice of one of the guards shouting, 'He's escaped!'
'Master Shinshichi! He's escaped! Come quickly!'
Shinshichi ran out into the garden barefoot.
'The master's nephew has killed two guards and run away!' The man's face was exactly the color of clay.
Shinshichi ran along with the guard, shouting back over his shoulder, 'Tenzo's killed two guards and escaped!'
'What?' shouted Koroku, suddenly awakened from his nap. The chirping of the cicadas went on uninterrupted. Almost in a single motion, he jumped to his feet and put on the sword that was always by his side when he slept. Bounding off the veranda, he soon caught up with Shinshichi and the guard.
When they got to the tree, Tenzo was nowhere to be seen. At the base of the tree lay a single piece of unknotted hemp rope. About ten paces away, a corpse lay facedown. They found the other guard propped against the foot of the wall, his head split open like a ripe pomegranate. The two bodies were drenched with blood, looking as though someone had splashed it all over them. The heat of the day had soon dried the blood on the grass, blackening it to the color of lacquer; the smell had attracted swarms of flies.
'Guard!'
'Yes, my lord.' The man threw himself at Koroku's feet.
'Tenzo had both hands tied with his sword knot and was bound to the tree with a hemp rope. How did he manage to slip out of the rope? As far as I can see, it hasn't been cut.
'Yes, well… we untied it.'
'Who?'
'One of the dead guards.'
'Why was he untied? And with whose permission?'
'At first we didn't listen to him, but your nephew said he had to relieve himself. He said he couldn't stand it, and—'
'You fool!' Koroku roared at the guard, barely able to keep himself from stamping on the ground. 'How could you fall for an old trick like that? You oaf!'
'Master, please forgive me. Your nephew told us you were a kind man at heart, and asked if we really believed you were going to kill your own nephew. He said he was being punished just to make an impression, and because you were conducting a full investigation, he would be forgiven by nightfall. Then he said that if we didn't listen to him, we rere going to suffer for making him suffer so. Finally, one of them untied him and went with him and the other guard, so that he might relieve himself in the shade of those trees over there.'
'Well?'
'Then I heard a scream. He killed both of them, and I ran to the house to tell you what happened.'
'Which way did he go?'
'The last time I saw him, he had his hands on top of the wall, so I suppose he went over it. I think I heard something hitting the water in the moat.'
'Shinshichi, run him down. Get men onto the road to the village right away.' After giving these orders, he himself dashed off in the direction of the front gate with frightening energy.
Kuniyoshi, covered in sweat, was unaware of what had happened and heedless of the passage of time. Only the gun existed for him, nothing else. Sparks from the forge flew about him. At long last he had fashioned the part he needed from iron filings. Relieved at having done his job, he cradled the musket in his arms. Still, he was not fully confident that the ball would come flying out of the barrel. He pointed the empty gun at the wall and tested it. As he pulled the trigger, it gave a satisfying click.
Ah, it seems to be all right, he thought. But it would be a great embarrassment 1 hand it over to Koroku
